GOD GIVES!

God of Christmas and all good gifts, shower this dear reader with Your grace and whatever it is they need and are facing. Amen.

We pondered God's great gift of love yesterday in worship. The Annunciation to Mary was a gift and visit of love. Mary was a devoted woman and God knew that. She loved God and knew that God loved her and because of God's love for us, God chose Mary to be the vessel to carry, birth, nurse, instruct, and pray for God's Son, Jesus. It's an incredible story as Luke tells it in chapter one of his gospel. So, our theme this week is about God's love for you and me.
We find one such example in 2 Samuel 7:1-11 where God shows His love for one of His kings,

Here is that pasage:

2 Samuel 7:1 Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." 3 Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you." 4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

In this powerful passage, God chooses to give David a house, meaning a lineage, a long line of descendants blessed and protected by God, rather than having David built God a house, namely a temple. We see there that our faith is in a God that gives, and all we should do is love God back by our faith, our heart, our thoughts, and our actions.

This Christmas season is about God giving to you and me the greatest gift, Jesus our Lord and Savior. God continues to give. The question becomes, what do we give God? I shared with the congregation that our oldest grandchild, 21 months old, does not know yet about the concept of Santa Claus. I asked her about it and she looked puzzled; she said, "Christmas is Jesus birthday!" And so it is. May she and we never forget that. God giving us a precious gift on Jesus' birthday.

PRAYER: Loving God, shower us with faith to receive all You have to share with us. Let us be a blessing to You and Yours. I pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

Study Guide: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 speaks of the love God has for one of His kings. Please find and read this passage to discover what God has to say about this relationship with his king.